A rival's comfort ZADFish
by Frickish
Summary: Dib is left feeling blue after another lecture from his father. This time, the world's ignoring of him has gone too far, but who will pull him out of his depths of depression?


It was a cold, grey night. The only thing that stirred had moved from his tall green house, and was now walking slowly across the street. The creature was like nothing human eyes had ever seen. The green creature seemed to look slightly like a boy, due to his small statue, the black wig that just seemed to fit on his head, and the strange pink uniform. This creature was not a human, however, he was an Irken. The wig hid a small pair of antenna, and the normal eyes of the being were thanks to the use of contacts. He also seemed to be wearing a backpack; he was however cursed to forever wear the small metallic item known as a PAK on his back. Getting bored of walking, Zim summoned the metallic spider legs from his PAK, and walked towards his enemy's house.

He hadn't seen Dib in a long time (ever since Dib had stopped his mutant rabbit plan) and despite not wanting to admit it, was feeling a bit worried about his rival. He sneaked through the streets a little more, until he found the house he was looking for. The house was tall, almost like his, but blue. A laser fence protected the garden from pests, but other than that there was no security. The house of his rival. Zim sighed, wondering why he was doing this, and walked over quietly to find Dib's room.

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"Dad, I didn't mean to blow up your toasting machine!" Dib tried to explain, "Zim was trying to take over the world with his mutant rabbits, and one of them knocked it over!"

"I am very ashamed of you, my son." Membrane muttered. Dib's father rarely shouted, but you could tell when he was disappointed in you. His voice would lower considerably, making him sound bigger and older than he was. The white lab coated adult shook his head in anger, his lighting blot hair flowing back and forth, "Not only have you destroyed my latest invention, but you are blaming it on your best friend Zim!"

"He's not my best friend, he's an alien!" Dib argued.

"Don't be stupid, coming up with silly excuses!" Membrane tutted, "Go to your room! I'm gonna call the therapist again."

Dib sighed, swirling around softly to make his trench coat float behind him like a cape. He walked past Gaz, who was sitting on the couch in the living room with her gameslave. She was also watching the Rabid Cow show, a show which was currently playing a clip of cows mowing down a very scared looking farmer. Dib sighed, walking up the stairs slowly, and went into his dark room.

His room was a small box, with a computer on the side by the door, and a small bed with a red duvet. Dib sat on the duvet and gave a sigh. Why would no one believe him? He hugged his pillow tightly, wishing someone could believe him, someone could be out there to help him. His attention was turned to the window in his room, which was giving off a loud tapping noise. He walked slowly towards the window, and saw the green Irken looking curiously in front of him. With a sigh, he opened the window just enough so that Zim could hear what he was saying.

"Go away Zim," Dib sighed, "I'm not in the mood to fight you today."

"What?" Zim looked at him in shock, "I do not believe your worm baby lies!"

"Just leave me alone, Zim." Dib turned away, back to the bed. "I don't need you making my day worse."

An Irken spider claw opened the door fully, and Zim climbed in. "What are you talking about?" Zim asked, looking a little angry, "Aren't you worried about my new plan?"

"Hm?" Dib looked at the Irken with apathetic eyes.

"I intend to use mutated cows this time!" Zim shouted loudly. "The cows, they will eat all the grass! And with your grass supply at a low, I will be able to defeat your malnutritioned army! Gir came up with the plan."

"Ok Zim," Dib sighed, not even bothering to correct him in the fact that humans did not eat grass, "You go do that."

Zim looked on at Dib, his lip quivering in anger. How dare Dib give up on him! Despite not wanting to admit it, he liked having a rival. It kept him in check, made sure that he really was the best there was. Which he was, of course, and he shouldn't really need a rival to prove anything...but it still gave him a fuzzy feeling to have his ego reinforced. He needed Dib, as much as he hated it. He spat a little at the thought of needing Dib, and pushed all thoughts out of his mind. He grabbed Dib with one of his spider legs, and placed him so that they were face to face, despite Dib being upside down.

"Listen to me, Dib." Zim spat, trying to sound tough, "I don't care what is up with your big head, and I don't care." His squeedly spooch burned at the lie. "You have to get out of this stupidness."

"Why would you want me to?" Dib sighed, "Why should I?"

"Because..." Zim thought for a second. "Because my tallest will not be proud of me easily defeating Earth! I want to be able to tell tales of crushing your tiny human bones as the fleet invades your family! For Zim will be triumphant, and it will be by beating you!"

"But why me?" Dib looked at the Irken sadly, "To be honest, I am the only one left who cares."

Zim groaned, trying to think of a way to get his rival back to his normal self. "Dib stink," Zim muttered, "Come with me."

"How?"

Zim sighed. "Grab onto my PAK, Dib..."

"Right, right...but why should I trust you?" Dib rolled his eyes. "Honestly, your PAK has many dangerous tools that you could use to dissect me..."

"Fine!" Zim shouted, causing Gaz to shout a loud "BE QUIET!" from downstairs. "Get into your Voot cruiser."

"Right, yeah." Dib sighed, "And what then? You know its still malfunctioning."

"Dib!" Zim shouted again, ignoring Gaz's shouts of rage from downstairs. A metal tentacle slapped against Dib's face, making the boy stunned with shock. The boy scowled at Zim for a few seconds, before falling back on the bed with a slump.

"Everything has got to me." Dib muttered. "My Dad cares about nothing but science, my sister treats me like dirt and gets away with it...and..." Dib turned away, not wanting to cry in front of his mortal enemy. Zim watched this for a few seconds, antenna twitching under his wig.

"What?" Zim asked, a little quieter. It was still enough to make Gaz yell again, which gave Zim the urge to dissect her here and now.

"I feel the whole world is against me." Dib sighed softly, hugging the nearest pillow. "They don't want to be saved; if they did, you'd be on an autopsy desk right about now, screaming in pain."

Dib closed his eyes as he remembered the picture he drew when Zim got the idea to steal children's organs. It felt silly, confiding to the alien, the one he wanted to cut up to show to the world that he was not crazy. But right now, no one else would listen. The egotistical alien would have to do for now. Zim looked at the boy for a few seconds, and picked him up with a tentacle. Dib squirmed a little, but Zim kept a strong hold on the black haired boy.

"Irkens have it bad too, Dib stink." Zim muttered, putting the boy down. "You make one mistake, and everyone acts like you killed the Tallest...which I did...but..."

"You don't understand what it's like to be me!" Dib shouted, grabbing Zim angrily. "You don't know what it's like to have your whole world endangered, and feel like the only one bothering to try and save it!"

"I suppose not," Zim mused, "Must be because of how great we Irkens are!"

Dib frowned, almost wanting to hit Zim because of his stupid comment. He couldn't lose Earth to this loser. He couldn't lose Earth to anyone.

"Anyway, I'd better get on with taking over your planet." Zim grinned, noticing Dib's sudden change in posture. The boy had moved from a slumped position to one that was straight, the cloak resting on the edge of the bed like a strange sea. Zim shivered, thinking of water, and then turned to leave. Dib grinned a little, feeling a little better. It was true that no one else was bothered with taking down the moronic Irken, but hearing stupid comments from Zim would always leave him amused, at least for a little while. It reassured him that the world was not resting on his shoulders; Zim was too stupid to be a threat to Earth for too long. Tak, on the other hand... Dib noticed Zim's leaving, and placed a hand on his pink uniformed shoulder. Zim turned around with an "eh?", causing Dib to smile.

"I'm gonna stop your plan, Zim." Dib grinned, his eyes sparkling. "No one else may be doing it, but it is because I am Dib!" He felt his ego rush, adrenaline pouring through his body as he started feeling better about himself. The Irken smirked as he left, happy to see his rival was ready to get beaten another day. 


End file.
